Plenty of gifts from three-point land

Out of the long list of problems Penn has experienced on the court this season, defending the three-point shot hardly stands out.

But three minutes into last night's game at Temple, the Owls had already jumped out to a 12-point lead thanks to five open looks from long range, four of which went in.

Fran Dunphy's team came out firing and although jacking up 23 shots from behind the arc may not have been in the gameplan, the early sharpshooting put the game to rest before Penn could even think about making adjustments.

"I'd like to say that we were going to run good offense, we were going to set these fade screens and somebody is going to be open," Dunphy said. "It looked great as it was going on, but you know it's not going to continue. They're going to do something to kind of challenge that."

But the Red and Blue didn't seem to do much during the remainder of the half to prevent the deep shots. The Owls finished the first half converting 8-12 from three.

To be sure, Temple deserves credit for its execution. The Owls put on a clinic in offensive fluidity early in the game with crisp ball movement, solid screens and nifty pump fakes.

The Quakers, though, were largely to blame for their porous defense. At times they were not aggressive fighting off screens, and they were slow with their rotations.

Dionte Christmas was Temple's main weapon, as expected. The Atlantic 10's leading scorer connected on five three's and ended up with a game-high 24 points.

"He never stops moving and everyone is always looking to get him open," Tyler Bernardini said, describing the difficulty of guarding Christmas.

"Even if you're right there, sometimes on the catch it's not good enough so you have to be really into him all the time."

The Quakers seemed to tweak their defense during the second half, holding Temple to 4-11 from three. But the threes that the Owls did make were game-changers.

Christmas' three following the goaltending non-call on the other end stole the momentum that Penn had steadily been building up to that point.

Minutes later, Penn had what was maybe its best defensive possession of the game, forcing Ryan Brooks to take a fadeaway three with the shot clock winding down.

When it went in, any hope of a Penn comeback was over.

The loss marks the second straight game in which Penn has allowed its opponent to light it up from downtown. In the blowout loss to Saint Joseph's, the Hawks shot 9-16.

And last night was the fourth time this year that Penn allowed an opponent to reach double-digits in three-pointers made. Drexel, Virginia and Lafayette all hit the decade mark, a plateau that even an inexperienced team should never allow opponents to reach.

The Quakers won't have to guard players quite like Christmas when they hit the Ivy League schedule, but that doesn't mean their perimeter defense won't be challenged once league play begins.

The team's solid all-around performance in the second half last night showed that they will have a chance to compete in the league this year. But for that to happen, their effort at defending the three will have to improve.

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